Before Freedom Party of Ontario was founded in 1984, one of the founding members of the party – Marc Emery – was the publisher of the London Metrobulletin, the owner of the City Lights Book Store in London, Ontario, and a recent candidate for alderman in that city. By 1983, his activism and publishing had made him a well known proponent of individual freedom in the London area.

This is Bill Paul’s first interview of Marc Emery. Emery discusses his political orientation, feminism, libel laws, his 1980 founding of the London Tribune newspaper, his newer London Metrobulletin tabloid, Ayn Rand, and more. The exact date of the interview is not known, but Paul and Emery discussed the fourth issue of the London Metrobulletin, which issue included a reproduction of a passage from the December 2, 1983 Ontario Hansard, which indicates that this interview was recorded in December of 1983.

Published by later-to-be Freedom Party Action Director Marc Emery, four issues of the London Metrobulletin were published in 1983 using equipment purchased from the defunct London Tribune newspaper (formerly owned by Marc Emery, Robert Metz, and others).

Contents of Issue #4:
What is the issue in Grenada? (Mark Pettigrew); Youth against war: So who isn’t?; A letter from the Publisher; Content quotas on automobiles (Peter Kennedy vs. Alex Beretta); Rebuttals to our last issue’s subject: Abortion (L.L. De Veber vs. Marc Emery); London Survey Shows Voters Want Prudent City Government; Stealing in the name of the Lord (Robert Metz); Should libraries pay royalties to Canadian authors? (Herman Goodden); Is socialized medicine a sacred cow? (Murray Hopper); Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a bird.., it’s a plane, its…garbage! (John Cossar); London’s project: Energy from waste; Best of Queen’s Park; Are we all just going to blow up, or what? (Ken Jones); In defence of hate literature and other passions of the mind (Marc Emery); Weep not for the elderly: They never had it so good (Marc Emery); Lessons in Censorship I: Pornography again? [We’re sick and tired of hearing about it too] (Robert Metz); Lessons in Censorship II: Feminists; Lessons in Censorship III: The law; The best of Parliament Hill; Abortion: a need for private care (Kathleen Yurcich);

At some point during 1983, Jennifer Moore of Students Against War was the guest of the Wayne McLean talk radio show on AM 980 (London, Ontario). Moore’s group had apparently been involved in some sort of poorly organized “civil disobedience”, affecting the Mayor of London. Although the group’s aims are not clear, the group apparently was anti-American, anti-nuclear weapons, and anti-NATO. Marc Emery – then publisher of the London Metrobulletin and owner/operator of City Lights bookshop – called in to get some answers.